Utilities follow set priorities when repairing storm damage

Snowstorm

When storms wreak widespread damage on electrical infrastructure, utility companies note that they have methods of prioritizing which instances of damage get repaired first.

Widespread power outages were among the impacts of a storm Friday and Saturday in Northern Michigan, one that brought heavy, wet snow weighing down many tree limbs and electrical lines. Many thousands of electrical customers in the region lost power.

Cyndy Shaw, who lives along Joy Lane in Springvale Township, was one of those affected. She contacted the News-Review Monday with questions and frustrations about the process which the Great Lakes Energy electric cooperative was following with repairs in her neighborhood.

Shaw said a falling tree took down a power line along Joy Lane late Friday and blocked the roadway.

The local fire department responded to the scene, cleared the tree from the roadway and moved the power line away from the roadway, Shaw noted. But later, she said the wire, partially obscured by snow, was dragged closer to the road, possibly by a passing snowplow.

On Monday, the line remained close to the road shoulder, Shaw said, posing a tangling hazard for passing snowmobiles.

Shaw said crews already had tended to other nearby repairs, and that Great Lakes seemed unaware of the downed line along Joy Lane in her contacts with the cooperative.

Noting that the downed wire appeared to involve a simple fix, she said it seemed inefficient for workers to leave the area after the other nearby repairs, necessitating a return trip later. Although she has a generator and woodstove at home, Shaw said the power outage was making it difficult to keep livestock on her farm warm and provide the animals with water.

“We shouldn’t always be dead last (to have power restored), especially when (the damaged line is) on the right of way,” she said.

Great Lakes receives power from outside suppliers at its substations and then delivers it via distribution lines to its members. Dave Guzniczak, communications director for Great Lakes, said distribution lines extending directly out from those substations receive first priority when repair crews have widespread damages to repair.

“Our system of attack for outages is, we fix the main feeder line first, which will automatically restore a larger number of members,” he said.

Once crews make repairs to those major arteries in the distribution system, attention then shifts to lines that branch off to serve progressively smaller numbers of customers. Guzniczak said the cooperative isn’t ignoring reports of damage that remains to be fixed.

Guzniczak noted the weekend’s snowstorm was an “exceptionally damaging” one for the region’s electrical infrastructure, and that Great Lakes was supplementing its own maintenance personnel with contracted electrical repair and tree-cutting crews.

“From talking to people here, I’m not sure if we’ve had this amount of heavy, wet snow in years,” he said.

Great Lakes provided an update earlier today, Tuesday, on how many of its members remained without power. Tallies included 1,547 members in Charlevoix County, 407 in Emmet County, 21 in Cheboygan County and 2,676 in Antrim County.

Consumers Energy, another utility dealing with storm damage to its infrastructure in Northern Michigan, outlines its process for restoring power after storm outages on its website.

The company uses a map-based system to identify problems on its grid based on customer calls. Facilities with significance for public health, safety and commerce — such as hospitals, police and fire agencies, broadcast media facilities, telephone and communications providers and water and sewer facilities — get power restored as soon as possible.

“Remaining equipment is restored in the following priority order: High voltage lines, substations, primary distribution lines, transformers and secondary lines,” the Consumers website states. “When possible, sections of damaged power lines are isolated and restored before repairing severely damaged lines to restore customers more quickly.”

Earlier today, Consumers reported that it had 420 customers remaining without power in Charlevoix County, 720 in Antrim County, 180 in Cheboygan County and fewer than 10 in Emmet County.

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On the WebArea electric utilities offer information on their websites about how storm damage repairs are prioritized.Consumers Energy: www.consumersenergy.com/content.aspx?id=4936Great Lakes Energy: www.gtlakes.com/outage-information/restoring-power/